LONDON: More than 100 Malaysian British Overseas Citizens (BOCs) staged a peace march yesterday as part of their campaign to lobby for British citizenship.

Most of them are from Penang and Malacca who had renounced their Malay-sian citizenship but now find themselves stateless as they are not entitled to British nationality.

They are part of over 500 BOCs in Bri-tain who are in a quandary after being misled into giving up their Malaysian passports as a route towards acquiring British citizenship.

Refugees: The Malaysian BOCs and supporters during their peace march in central London Monday.

Holding placards and banners declaring “Where is our home?” and “We are victims of limbo,” they marched from Westminster Abbey to the Home Office nearby at about 1pm, attracting attention from the lunch-time crowd.

A six-member delegation later presented a letter to Immigration Minister Phil Woolas’ private secretary Oliver Ferrari, seeking a meeting with the minister to look into the plight of the Malaysian BOCs.

Among those in the group were two BOCs identified only as Tracy and Edward, London Chinese Information and Advice Centre’s Malaysian chairman councillor Edmond Yeo, London Citizens’ co-ordinator Jessica Jones, Brentwood vicar-general Father John Armitage and St Bonaventure School’s head student Senyo Aidm.

“The BOCs have been poorly advised, causing them to live in destitution, fear and exploitation,” said Yeo, who was among the community leaders who turned up to give their support.

These former Malaysians acquired BOC status by virtue of being born in Penang and Malacca before 1983 following an amendment to the British Nationality Act, which created a residual BOC category.

Newlywed Lim, who is one of those affected, said he felt sad that he could not go for his honeymoon in Paris despite being married nine months ago.

“We’ve saved money for the trip but it’s still a dream as I am stranded in Britain,” said the 33-year-old Penangite.

Lim is facing an even worse predicament, as his BOC passport, along with his Malaysian driving licence and cut-up Malaysian passport, were seized by the Home Office two years ago.

He was then detained for overstaying, spending 18 days in four detention centres, including sleeping in Heathrow Airport.

“It’s been a living nightmare. I don’t know whether I’ll be arrested or thrown into a detention centre on my next visit,” said Lim, who gave up his Malaysian citizenship in 2006 to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain status in Britain.

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has recorded the first influenza A (H1N1)-related death from a local transmission, signalling that the flu in the country is worsening.

The 42-year-old man, who died on Monday, is the third victim to have died from the flu.

The two earlier deaths were linked to imported cases of the H1N1. They were a 46-year-old Malaysian man, who had worked in Belgium and died last Sunday and a 30-year-old Islamic finance student from Indonesia who died on July 21.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the Malaysian man was reported to have died from severe pneumonia with multi-organ failure at 4.40pm on Monday after being treated for 10 days in a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur.

He said the victim had received oupatient treatments from several private clinics and hospitals since July 6 before being referred and admitted to the private hospital on July 18.

“In the ward, he was diagnosed to be suffering from diabetes mellitus and chest x-ray showed that he was also suffering from pneumonia,” he told reporters at the operations room at the Health Ministry here Tuesday.

Liow said the victim was transferred to the intensive care unit after having breathing difficulties and requiring ventilator.

He said when his condition deteriorated, a throat swab was taken on July 22 and he was confirmed to be H1N1 positive the following day.

“The swab was taken very late on July 22. Despite being in hospital, these three victims all died. They couldn’t be saved. Now we’ve found out that the treatment came to them very late. I’m very concerned.”

He said he had directed all private clinics and hospitals to be vigilant and be on high alert as well as have anti-viral drug, Tamiflu to handle the H1N1 cases.

“Everyone must be responsible and on high alert. This is a pandemic season now. If you have flu and cough, take it seriously,” he said, adding that the rate of death risk for those infected with H1N1 was 0.4% to 0.5%

He advised the public to wear mask, take care of their personal hygiene and try to practice social distancing if they were having sore throat and cough.

He said those with flu-like symptoms must go to the hospital and if confirmed to have with H1N1, they should take Tamiflu.

Asked whether local users had suffered reactions after taking Tamiflu as shown by some foreign users,

Liow said :”No. Not in Malaysia. At the early stage, the Health director-general had warned the public not to simply take Tamiflu. Take it when you have the symptoms.”

Liow also had directed the National Pandemic Preparedness Plan technical committee to address all issues, including late treatment and convey the message to the private clinics and hospitals.

He also disclosed that as at July 28, there were 95 new local H1N1 cases involving Malaysians with one death.

Of the total, 68 cases were from 19 new clusters while 22 cases were from the existing 11 clusters and five others were sporadic or isolated cases.

Up till July 28, total reported cases stood at 1,219, with three deaths reported.

Of the total, 53% or 645 are local infections while 47% or 574 are imported cases.

“Local transmission cases have exceeded imported cases. Our local infections is spreading so fast throughout the country with 19 new clusters. This is a bad sign,” Liow said.

He said 98% of the total reported cases or 1,198 have recovered while the remaining 2% or 21 cases were receiving anti-viral treatment at the hospital and at home.

Asked whether the H1N1 cases involving six students from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Titiwangsa campus, who were quarantined was a new cluster case, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican confirmed the cases but said that it was not a new cluster.

Kota Kinabalu: Students in Sabah will soon be able to learn the Kadazandusun Language up to Form Five.

Sabah Education Department Director, Datuk Normah Gagoh, said the Curriculum Development Division of the Education Ministry has drafted a curriculum for the teaching and learning of the language up to that level.

“The department, on the other hand, has organised various professional training courses for those teachers involved in the implementation of the teaching in this language É all these efforts are meant to develop a human capital with Malaysian identity,” she said.

She said the Ministry as well as the department in Sabah have placed a strong commitment to the expansion of the Kadazandusun Language since it was first introduced.

Normah said this at the two-in-one launching of a Kadazandusun Language Colloquium and a Puralan Boros Kadazandusun Id Sikul (Development direction for the teaching and learning of Kadazandusun Language in School) Book at Le Meridien Hotel here Wednesday.

She said since the start of its implementation, the teaching and learning of the Kadazandusun Language has received positive response from the school administrators, teachers, students and parents.

She said presently 313 schools, including 53 secondary schools, throughout the State are offering this language as part of their curriculum.

“Some 736 teachers and 20,386 primary and secondary students are involved in the implementation of the teaching and learning of this language in schools,” she said.

Expecting the number to continue increasing, she said the department would require the full cooperation of such bodies as the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA) as well as Kadazandusun Language Foundation (KLF).

She commended both the organisations for having contributed greatly to the implementation of the language.

The teaching and learning of the Kadazandusun Language was introduced at primary school level in 1997 and from there it was expanded in phases to higher levels of education.

SANDAKAN: A former secondary school principal has been charged with four counts of making false claims involving the purchase of dictionaries and workbooks amounting to RM23,342.

Pandir Lodah, 40, who is now attached to the Education Office here, pleaded not guilty before Sessions Court Judge Indra Ayub.

He was alleged to have committed the offences on April 1, 2 and 14 in 2003 when he was SMK Libaran principal.

He is alleged to have knowingly used four Government Purchase Orders containing false details with the intention of deceiving the state Education Department, in which he acknowledged the receipts of 400 dictionaries and workbooks that had not been supplied to the school.

Judge Indra fixed trial for Oct 22 and set bail at RM15,000 with two local sureties.

Pandir was represented by Counsel Shakinur Ain Karma while the prosecution was led by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Deputy Public Prosecutor Joyce Balasius.

In another case, former Karamunting People Development Leader Lawrence Tan Ken Yee claimed trial to a charge of abetting a former Village Development and Security Committee chairwoman to make a false claim of RM6,400 for road repairs and resurfacing in the state constituency on Nov 21, 2001.

Tan, 52, pleaded not guilty to committing the offence under Section 11(c) of the Corruption Prevention Act 1997.

Former Village Development and Security Committee chairwoman Wong Tzu Fun, 49, also claimed trial to having submitted a false claim to the Sandakan Municipal Council.

Sessions Court Judge Indra set bail at RM10,000 with RM 1,000 to be deposited and two local sureties each for Tan and Wong after fixing the trial for Nov 19 and 20.